Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood

My clients are mainly nonprofit organizations and many of them have an international mission statement but are based in the United States. Everyday I work with the founders and presidents of these organizations contributing strategic planning and helping with development, grants, donor relations, and publicity. When I picked up this book, I recognized the passion and promise with which John Wood began his organization, Room to Read. Because he had an executive business background with Microsoft in Asia, Wood knew how to incorporate a results-driven business model in his nonprofit organization and it worked. He wasn't immune to the panic, pressure, and penury that my clients routinely experience. However, he applied strategies that looked ahead, took big risks, and based the risk on measurable outcomes that the donors would easily understand. This is his story but it is one that tells how to do a nonprofit organzation right and should be required reading for every start-up nonprofit.

John Wood, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, c. 2006. Harper Collins